Nats turn attention to wild card

Newsflash: the Washington Nationals are out of the NL East hunt.  If you didn’t realize this prior to last night the Atlanta Braves had won 14 straight games and recently swept the Nationals on our home field.  The Nats sit 14.5 games out of the division lead and now recognize that catching the Braves at this point is a bit unrealistic.

Now, we must turn our attention to the second wildcard spot.  Added just a year a go, we’ve already seen just how dramatic the second wild card position can be.  Both Wild card teams will play each other in a one winner takes all game.  The winning team receives a spot in the divisional series against a division champ, but like we’ve seen in the past, nothing is guaranteed in October.  The Nationals, as the NL’s overall one seed, lost to the wild card St. Louis Cardinals last postseason.

Currently, Washington sits 8 games back of the Cincinnati Reds with about 50 games left in the season.  At this point there’s no turning back and the Nats NEED to turn it on. Every member of the organization from the general manager to the closer knows they haven’t lived up to the hype entering the season, and if there’s a time to win more than five games in a row (the teams current season high), its now.  Washington already has two wins and looks to sweep away the Phillies today at 5:05, but it’ll take a complete team effort to turn this season into a positive one.  Let the race for the wild card begin today at 5:05.

Skipper Davey Johnson (Above) knows its win or bust in his final season at the helm.